Tooth Fairy is slacking...

Last week Paige pulled her loose tooth out while she was at school. She was very excited for the Tooth Fairy to come as most children are. Well that night she put it under her pillow and in the morning she came in with a sad look on her face saying that the Tooth Fairy never came.
Oh, no. I said, "well the Tooth Fairy is really busy - she'll come tonight." Paige kept her tooth with her all day long - she brought it out to dinner with us, took it to school and watched over it to make sure it stayed safe for the Tooth Fairy the next night. That next night during family prayer she even mentioned her tooth and the Tooth Fairy. Well the next morning to her great disappointment the Tooth Fairy didn't come. "What is with the Tooth Fairy?" I thought. Geez, get it together. Paige was really sad now thinking the Tooth Fairy would never come. That night I told her that she had to make sure her tooth was really clean and she had to make sure she was always brushing her teeth because the Tooth Fairy only likes clean teeth. It was time for bed and John came up to help put the kids to bed. He told Paige to stop messing around and leave Owen's tooth brush alone. He picked it up and rinsed it and put it away. Before Paige or I could say anything he rinsed her tooth down the drain. Poor Paige burst into tears, "Now the Tooth Fairy will never come!" I tried to calm her down. We wrote a note telling the Tooth Fairy her story and put it under her pillow along with another note over the sink that had her tooth. The next day Paige woke up with a nice note from the Tooth Fairy apologizing for not coming the past two nights. She said she was able to crawl down the sink and get the tooth. Paige was so excited. That Tooth Fairy needs to get her act together!

Maroon 5 - Night Out

This last weekend for Jake's 29th ;) birthday they invited John and I to go see Maroon 5. I have to say if there was a concert I wanted to see they would definatly be in my top 5 choices. Thanks guys for a great night out! Here's a look at the band singing one of their many sexy songs!
When we first got here we sat behind this couple who seriously stood like this and swayed the entire time Counting Crows was on... lucky me I wasn't a huge fan otherwise I would have been pretty peeved! They left before Maroon 5 came on - thank goodness. I almost lost my dinner staring at these two rub up and down for 45 minutes.

For those of you who are big fans here is a little taste of that night! Like Wendy I dug the all white and the scruff and... well you get the picture.

Back to....

Well everything for that matter. Back to school for Paige although this time she is a big 1st grader.
Here she is the first day with her cousin Fletcher who is now in Kindergarten at the same school.
She found her friend Lauren as she searched for her class line.
Back to Preschool for Owen... Yeah for mom! This year he is going 3 days a week and we couldn't be happier.
Back to all the activities... Gymnastics and Speech (yes still speech) for Owen.
Ballet, Tennis and Soccer for Paige - and to think she still tells me every day how bored she is... I tell her to use her imagination and find something to do. This girl - she kills me!

San Diego Trip

This past weekend we took a family trip down to San Diego. After a successful and fun trip last year we decided to repeat our trip again this year. It is just so easy packing up and driving 45 minutes away to our vacation destination - only this time the kids were older and Brock had even more fun.
Our first stop was Sea World. Here is Brock checking out the starfish! We met up with Adrienne and her kids (along with Fletcher) for the rest of the day. When we went to see Shamu Paige insisted in changing into her swim suit and sitting in the soak zone as close as possible. She didn't want to sit alone, so John was kind enough to make the sacrifice (I was wearing a white T-shirt) and sit with Paige. We sat in the second to last row of the soak zone, and according to Adrienne "you barely get a couple of drops" well Shamu was on a kick that day and we all got soaked. The boys were taken completely by surprise and cried pretty hard. Adrienne and I just laughed!
Here is Brock waiting for Shamu to surface.
At the Dog and Cat Show Paige insisted again on being a big girl and sitting separate from the rest of us... isn't she a little young for this? We were only a couple of rows back. How funny, she thinks she is so big.
Next Stop was the Wild Animal Park. This day was much hotter. It was a warm 95 degrees and it must of been one of the most humid days possible. The kids enjoyed it but got tired easily from all the walking. Here they are in a huge nest.
Brock didn't want to get left out of anything... including all the pictures. He'd whimper till we put him next to the kids and take a shot.
The best part was the Journey Into Africa Tour. We got to ride around and see all the animals pretty close up and not all caged. The kids loved it!
Behind the bush is a huge Wart Hog rolling around in the mud to stay cool - Brock wanted to get right in there with him. Sick!
The kids did their best to keep cool. There were some water stops and plenty of stroller rides.
I think we road this carousel at least 5 times (without getting off once). Each time it would stop the kids would switch animals and get on another one they likes. It was fun and all, but I was over it after the 3rd time.
Next Stop was Coronado Island. It was a beautiful place across the bay from our hotel. We searched for a park to go to - the kids loved being chased by their dad. Here is the first family photo we got of our weekend away.
Here is the photo the kids love to take. I think this resembles our family a little better.
I love this photo of John and the kiddies. These kids are such Hams, and like I said Brock likes to get right in there and copy the kids.
There was this interesting park right across from our hotel. Paige and Brock and I went by while John and Owen napped. Paige thought it was all pretty cool stuff. This thing spun around super fast right when you jumped on. I almost fell off of it.
After swimming in the pool for what seemed like hours, the hotel put on a movie night out by the poolside. They played Ratatouille. Owen and Paige loved it, and then we got to watch fireworks! It was a great way to end the day.
Here they are playing hide and seek in our little hotel room - not a lot of places to hide, but they loved this spot.
Before we left we rented this little car/bike... I'm not sure what to call it, and road all around the harbor. We came across this huge statue of this navy man kissing this nurse. Very cute. The kids had so much fun in this cart....
... the sad part was when we were riding back to the hotel we were trying to go fast (of course the kids keep saying, go faster, go faster) and Brock all of a sudden drops his plastic cup of water. He starts to cry, Owen gets wet and starts to cry - then John breaks to get the cup and Paige flies forward and gets tangled and dragged in the bars below. It was such a scene and one of our worst parenting experiences ever. All 3 kids are screaming and John and I look like the worst parents on the face of the earth. We both start laughing... who does that? I think we were both so embarrassed for what had happened.

Owen's Birthday Party

Well Owen finally got a birthday party... I know that stinks considering he is 4. We decided to share the party with Avery who also turned 4 a few weeks ago at Scooters Jungle. Owen was SOOOO excited! Here is a group shot of all the kids. We had 30 kids at the party - wow, what a group! They slid down the huge slide, played hide and seek, climbed in the bounce house and ran around. I think they all had a good time.
I tried to get a jungle themed cake for the two of them - but they were all out. So we got a girl/boy cake instead. I think it turned out pretty good - what do you think?
These two loved being sung to. Just look at the anticipation on Owen's face.
And after the cake they gave each other a big hug.
Owen got right to work eating his cake!
I think all the kids had a good time minus the fact that the pizza was 1 hour late and they were 3 pizza's short. I was super bummed on that, but the kids were having so much fun running around it was hard for them to notice. Here is Paige having fun... I think she looks old here.
Oh and here were the goodie bags... I thought they turned out pretty cute!
It was a great party! I know Owen had a good time.

Disasters and Dreams in One Weekend

Friday night we took the kids to the Walk With the Dinosaurs at the Honda Center. The show looked great (from what I could tell) but unfortunately we didn't get to see all of it.

Owen was a little scared of the huge dinosaurs that came out... they looked real and made loud growls. He was pretty good if he could sit on our lap and we could reassure him they weren't real. Too bad we didn't last past intermission.
Brock threw the biggest fit ever and screamed, which threw Owen into a tail spin. So, I took both Owen and Brock home and John stayed with Paige to finish the show - thank goodness someone could stay.
We were so bummed to have wasted the money on the drive home I had to lighten my mood so I called Jenny and said "Knock... Knock" She replied, "Who's there?" I then said, "Orange"...."Orange who?" she asked. "Orange you glad you didn't go to walking with the dinosaurs?" At least we both got a good laugh and I lightened up. Here are the survivors or at least the ones that could stay and watch it all.
Saturday night we went to another one of my High School friends wedding. Gina and Mike met on the first day of Junior High in home room. How cute that all these years later they are married. It was a beautiful wedding.
Here we are about to have dinner.
All the girls again... Gina you look great - especially with all that money pined to you! I can't wait for Jo's wedding next June - Paige is so excited to be a flower girl, and it will be great being one of your Brides Maids too! We are so excited for that!
Sunday was Brock's first official day in Nursery... yep this kid is now 18 months and therefore I get to go to class again and not wander the halls with this rascal. They said he did great and he even earned his very own car!

What we've been up to...

To say we've been busy would be an understatement, but I won't bore you with the details - here are some of the highlights...
We love to go to the Spectrum and play in the water fountains - as you can see from these photos - the kids are having a ball!
Owen and his "classic pose" - I can't wait for this kid to just smile for the camera without making a silly face.
Brock loved to play with the cups and the turtles.
We've tried to keep up the beach at least once a week...
Paige joined her cousin Fletcher at the Ocean Institute Camp - these two got to learn about sea life and even touch some sea creatures.
We had our Second (not quite annual) Pirate Party. I have to say half the fun is planning and setting up for this thing. Thanks to everyone who helped out - it was so much fun!
John was a bah-humbug and didn't dress up.... Oh well - to each his own right? I on the other hand think, why not? It's one night right?
The food table... yummy potato wedges, grapes, ribs, apples and chicken legs...
Bread, cheese, and root beer (in the bottles) we also eat on pie tins w/o utensils... it makes it all that more fun!
Lori and I loved the parrot in the cage - I don't know if anyone else even noticed him, but we got a kick out of it all.
Here were the winners of the dress up contest - Patrick B. and Sara D. each got their own bag of Pirate Booty and a movie ticket.
We watched the movie Pirates of the Caribbean 2 on the big screen outside and ate movie candy and popcorn - here is a picture of all the ladies. Good times guys!